1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to articles of athletic footwear, and more particularly to grinding shoe devices utilized for sliding along, for instance, a pipe, a rail, an edged surface or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the popularity of xe2x80x9cextreme sportsxe2x80x9d such as skateboarding and rollerblading has increased significantly. As athletes push the envelope, attempting to perform more impressive maneuvers in increasingly more difficult locations, they demand more specialized and better performing equipment and footwear. This demand has inspired rapid advancement and broadened capabilities in the footwear used by these athletes.
For example, athletes first discovered that the configuration of the skateboard also allowed skaters to slide sideways across a protruding feature on a supporting surface, such as an edge, a ridge, a curb, a handrail, a pipe or the like, by engaging the underside of the board with, for instance, a rail and then sliding laterally or longitudinally along the rail. Popularly referred to as xe2x80x9cgrinding,xe2x80x9d this is an exciting acrobatic maneuver that greatly increases the enjoyment of skateboarding by expanding the options available in using skateboards.
As in-line skating, or rollerblading, gained in popularity, in-line skate shoes carried on aligned wheels become common place. Soon athletes began performing in-line skating maneuvers where a user could jump up into the air and slide the undercarriage of his or her skate shoes sideways along a rail or the like, expanding the scope of the equipment used in grinding to include in-line skates. Recently, in-line skates, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,552 (Roderick et al.), have been adapted to incorporate inwardly curving arched portions into the wheel frame designed to allow skating and more controlled grinding by the wearer.
A marked departure from conventional in-line skate shoes led to the development of an entirely new industryxe2x80x94grind shoes. As the popularity of grinding increased, many athletes became frustrated with the burden of carrying the requisite grinding gear with them during their activities. Therefore, grind shoes were first introduced to the marketplace by the assignee of the rights in the instant invention under the trademark SOAP(copyright). The first such shoes incorporated a saddle shaped grind plate mounted in a recess in the arch of a shoe sole as depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,631 (Inman) assigned to the assignee of the instant application. This patent generally described an athletic shoe incorporating a grind plate for performing similar and novel sliding maneuvers to those performed by skateboarders and in-line skaters over rigid support surfaces commonly found in outdoor settings such as parking lots and walkways, as well as obstacles provided in manmade skate parks. The grind shoe and its associated grind plates have been well received in the marketplace and have led to major commercial success.
As the grinding sport developed, greater demand has been put on the shoe equipment. Athletes seek to carry out extreme maneuvers involving sliding of the grind plates along a rail. Oftentimes, the athlete elects to grind on special equipment such as inclined grind rails. The dynamics of certain maneuvers and the material composition of certain grinding surfaces, coupled with the characteristics of the leg and foot anatomy and the level of expertise in the athlete, is such that some of the more extreme maneuvers can be best achieved by specifically adapted grinding shoes or plates. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,450, also assigned to the assignee of the instant application, incorporates a wear resistant brake tab secured between the upper mid-sole and the plate and having an abrasive surface to enable the grinder to roll over the shoe and contact the rail to slow down the speed of the slide.
With the popularity of the grinding activities, users have demanded greater comfort in grind shoes which may be worn throughout the day during regular daily activity. Thus, there existed a demand for grind shoes which are lightweight and relatively flexible in the sole area to thus add to comfort and to provide for flexibility during the walking gait to minimize the somewhat xe2x80x9cFrankensteinxe2x80x9d maneuver often associated with rigid sole snow ski boots. It is also desirable that the grind plates be removable from the shoe sole for ready replacement in the event of wear or in the event the athlete seeks high performance grinding characteristics on different support surfaces having different degrees of roughness and coefficients of friction. To this end, commercially available grind shoes have typically incorporated mounting hardware in the form of threaded inserts embedded in the shoe sole for mounting metal fastener studs which might receive mounting forks formed in prongs incorporated in the respective grinding plates. The metal screws and mounting studs are often relatively heavy thus adding to the weight of the shoe and detracting from its performance. Furthermore, any freedom of movement between the shoe sole and grind plate provided by elongated slots in the grind plate fitted about the mounting screws is typically restricted by the inexact tolerances between the mating parts and the overall coefficient of friction afforded by the general coupling arrangement. Consequently, there exists a need for a grind shoe apparatus which is lightweight and provides for ready freedom of movement between one end of the grind plate and the shoe sole to thus maintain high flexibility in the shoe sole and minimize any rigidisation from coupling with the grind plate.
There also exists a need for a grind plate coupling mechanism which is convenient to uncouple and recouple and which can be operated in a relatively rapid fashion to thus minimize the time taken for an exchange of plates during any grinding contest or exercise undertaken by the user.
The grinding shoe apparatus of the present invention includes a sole characterized by an underside formed in the arch area with a downwardly opening cavity with a predetermined configuration and grind plate complementally received therein. The sole is configured with a slide fastener passage at one end of the cavity and a first locking device mounted at the opposite end. The grind plate includes a slide fastener at one end to be floatably received in sliding relationship in the fastener passage of the sole, and a second locking device at the opposite end to anchor to the first locking device. In the preferred embodiment, such first and second fasteners cooperate to form a quick release for rapid decoupling and recoupling.
Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.